Extinctions are a part of the Earth’s story and play a massive part in the evolution of new classes of animals and plants. New species arrive to fill in the void and life begins again. This is a very gradual and almost gentle process, with the organisms fading out thanks to the tiniest environmental alterations. Some can be much bigger in scale. Altogether the planet has experienced five mass extinctions, brought on by continental shifts or celestial disasters like the death of the dinosaurs. But nature does not always lend a hand in this task.
Some creatures were driven to oblivion by none other than mankind, both out of ignorance or fear and even simple human curiosity. Most of these creatures were isolated in island worlds, lost in time and separated from everywhere else until we discovered them. During the age of exploration, we were driven to colonize new horizons and with us came an end to everything new and unique.
Sometimes however, it is our own spirit and drive for development that finishes off the most unique and charismatic of creatures. Imagine a world where you could see the sky be darkened by millions of pigeons, meet ten-foot tall flightless birds in the Madagascan forests or swim through the Arctic seas with gigantic kelp-eating manatees. Some of them were so recent that even in the 21st Century, we have seen slight glimpses and felt their presence where they once existed. This is a list of the most remarkable and most memorable recently extinct animals of all time. This list is compiled according to severity, for even the largest animal populations can be wiped out in the blink of an eye.
Baiji
Location: Yangtze River, China
Last seen: August 2007
